Arms of An Angel
by TheFallen483
Summary: Clary Fray thought of herself as a normal girl with a best friend. Her mother and others thought of her as a talented young artist with an imaginary friend. Wouldn't that be what you called something only one person could see? [Rated: M for language, violence and lemon in eventual chapters.]
1. Chapter 1

She was different and she knew it. It started back when she was 5, seeing things no one else saw. Some say it was a ghost, considering her and her mother had just moved to a new apartment in Brooklyn. Some say it was just an imaginary friend.

But no, it wasn't either one.

Maybe she was just schizophrenic, some close friends had suggested. Which leaded to her mother getting her tested for schizophrenia.

But no, it wasn't that either.

The hardest part was knowing that when Jocelyn went into her daughter's room, whatever it was had left. One second she heard her daughter talking, having a conversation. The next, her daughter was busy painting, as if nothing had happened.

Over the years, she had confronted her daughter about this issue and only got the same answer each time.

"I don't know anything."

It had frustrated her, she knew her daughter knew something, it had never just stopped like it should have if it was an imaginary friend. After ten years, she was a teen now and it was still going on.

No, her daughter knew what was going on.

And she did.

Clary Fray did know what it was.

It wasn't an imaginary friend. It wasn't a ghost, she wasn't schizophrenic.

This 'imaginary friend' was real.

Very real.

* * *

So, it started when Clary was five. She and her mother had moved to Brooklyn, into a simple, modern apartment that she immediately loved. She loved the space in her room, where she could draw all she wanted. She wasn't that into toys like most girls her age. Barbies, makeup, jewelry. She didn't find it that interesting. She was perfectly fine with a box of crayons, markers, pencils and a bunch of paper. It was something she got from her mother, who was an aspiring artist herself.

Clary had been sitting on her bed, looking through a box of her old artwork her mother wanted her to keep. She giggled at some of the ones she made when she was a year old, a bunch of colorful smudges and messily drawn lines. There had been progress over the few short years of her life so far, now drawing neat, straight lines, erasing what she doesn't like.

She had immediately paused what she was doing when she saw something moving in front of her. Fighting the urge to scream, she looked up instead, wanting to see who or what it was. Whoever or whatever it was had to have come through the window.

Her eyes met a wide pair of light-colored eyes, both surprised by each other's presence. Clary couldn't find anything to say, though she wasn't afraid. Why would she be at such a young age?

The boy in front of her had to be at least a year or two older than her. He had messy, almost curly blonde hair that came down to his chin, it had to be longer when it was straight. His eyes were a light blue, unlike her own green eyes.

He stared at her in fascination, almost as if he hadn't seen anything like her before. Startling the younger girl, he stepped closer to poke her forehead. She seemed to think that he was testing to see if she was real. Why wouldn't she be? Shouldn't she be wondering that about him?

"Who are you?" The boy's voice was filled with curiosity, tilting his head as he spoke to get a better look of her. "Father told me there wasn't a mundie here."

"A...what?" Clary blinked at him in confusion, trying to think of if she had ever heard that word before. 'Mundie'.

"A human. You are a mundane, right?"

"Of course. Aren't you?"

"I...have to go."

"No!"

The boy looked startled by her sudden outburst, turning his head as he pressed his foot against the windowsill, ready to climb back out. "What? Why?"

"I've never had a friend before...not many kids like me, I don't like the kind of things they do. Can you be my friend?" There was a pure innocence in her voice as she spoke, her eyes big and excited.

The blonde boy gave a quick glance at the ground far below him before he nodded, a quick nod that Clary barely even caught at first. Afterwards though, she grinned and shoved her drawings in a messy pile into her box, setting it on the floor to make room for him.

They stayed up late that night, talking, sharing hobbies and interests. He seemed, to her, so..._cool_. He had a father but no mother, she had left when he was a baby. Like her father did when she wasn't even born yet.

"So...if I'm a 'mundane', what are you?" She hugged her thin legs to her chest as she stared at him in curiosity, frowning at how he hesitated. Wasn't he human too? Clary never believed in fairytales or magic.

"I'm a Shadowhunter and I'll explain more next time. I need to go, Clary." The boy immediately looked worried as he looked at the clock beside her bed, scrambling to get back onto his feet.

"But what's your name? You never even told me."

"I'm Jace Wayland. I'll be back soon, Clary Fray."

And he meant it when he said soon.

Almost every day ever since then, he would sneak out and come to see her. They would talk in bed about their day, what they had done, seen, etc. Clary had taken a liking to him, he was becoming her best friend. He was her shoulder to cry on when she was upset. He was there when she was at her happiest moments. But one thing always bothered her.

"Why am I the only one that can see you?"

They were sitting in the chair in the corner of her room, her actually sitting _in _it while Jace sat up on the arm of the chair. It had been 3 years since their first meeting, Clary now 8 while Jace was 9.

He merely shrugged, giving her the impression that it wasn't something he wanted to talk about. "Because they're not like you. I don't know."

"But if they can't see you, why do you always hide when my mom or Luke comes in?"

"They give me a bad vibe."

"How?"

"Just makes me think that they could be able to see me too, I don't want to risk it. You're the only mundane that can see me so far."

Clary thought about that, thought about being the only one who's been able to see him. She took some sort of pride out of that, she liked being the only one that can see him. But how he acted around her mom and Luke, who was almost like an uncle to her, confused her.

"Go to sleep, yeah? It's late." Jace nodded towards the clock beside her bed, being obvious that he didn't want to talk about her mom and Luke anymore. She continued anyway.

"But they think I'm crazy, Jace." Clary whispered to him, almost as if she was afraid they would hear her. It was true, both Luke and her mother thought she was crazy, hearing Clary talk 'to herself' almost every night, then coming into her room to see her alone. Well, sort of alone.

"Come on." Jace sighed out in defeat as he stepped down from the chair, reaching out for Clary's hand. "I'll stay here for tonight and leave before your mom comes in."

Her mood immediately brightened at that, nodding in agreement as she took his hand. His hand was softer than hers, but hers was just a little more pale.

She felt content lying beside him, being able to mess with his curls as she slowly became exhausted. But she didn't want to sleep yet, on the days Jace was here, she never slept until he left. With him next to her, she wanted to spend every moment she can.

"Sleep, will you?" He teased her, his hand reaching up to mess up her own, already messy, red hair. "My father is gone for a couple days so I'll be here earlier tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay...sleep tight, Jace."

"You too, Clarissa."


	2. Chapter 2

"Clary, Simon is here!"

Awoken by her mother's voice, sixteen year old Clary blinked in confusion, still half asleep. She muttered out an annoyed 'I'm coming' before sitting up on her bed, her hand tangling into her messy head of red hair. Turning her head, she looked at the spot beside her on her queen size bed, a couple of pillows pushed around as the blanket and sheets beside her were pushed down. Jace must have left in a hurry this morning.

She forced herself out of bed a minute later, reaching over to grab a dark green hairband from her nightstand, pulling her hair up as she headed out of her room. "It's too early." She complained, giving her mother a tired look.

"Take that up with Simon." Her mother, Jocelyn, nodded her head toward the door with a small smile, seeming pleased that her daughter was up and out of her room. Clary couldn't blame her though, she hadn't been out of her room as much this summer. After her sixteenth birthday, she mainly focused on the 'important' things. Art, Simon and Jace.

"I will." Clary chuckled at her mother's comment as she went over to answer the door, immediately greeted with a grinning Simon. Simon was her friend for years now, the person she could talk to about her more…'geeky' hobbies that Jace never had any clue about. "You understand it's 3:00am Clary time, right, Simon?"

"Well, today is daylight savings day." Simon teased her back, his hands stuffed into his pockets. "The band is playing tomorrow at a café. You coming?"

"I wouldn't miss it for the world." Clary reached out to push a finger against Simon's chest, nodding her head back towards her room. "I'm gonna work on a sketch and afterwards we can head out and get something to drink."

"Meet you at the coffee shop?"

"One o'clock, as usual."

* * *

Clary sulked into her room after a long day of aimlessly walking around Brooklyn with Simon and drinking coffee. Coffee leaves her system quick now, it's what she lives on. She dipped her shoulder to let her messenger bag slip down her arm and drop beside the door, where she usually leaves it. "Too much coffee or not as much coffee?" Oh, _now_ she starts talking to herself. The things coffee can do to a person.

"I would say not enough. When you have two, you're at least coherent when you come home."

Clary was unable to hold back a yell in surprise at the familiar voice, stepping back as she turned to look towards her bed. Jace was sitting in the middle, smirk and all, obviously pleased at her reaction. "You get to either sleep on the chair or in the closet tonight, your choice."

"Well, if I slept on the chair, it would be a bit comfortable but not much room. If I slept in the closet, I could ruin all of your clothes, take them off of the hangers and lay them on the ground to make a makeshift bed. Decisions, decisions. Both very comfortable."

"Then you get to sleep on the floor."

"You break my poor heart, Miss Clary Fray."

"I better break it."

Jace shot a grin in her direction, scooting over to one side to let Clary get in beside him. She took the offer right away, collapsing back onto the bed beside him. "I get a workout every single day just walking around Brooklyn with Simon and I still can't look prettier than Isabelle." Isabelle was one of the people Jace had been living with for a while, ever since his father had died. Isabelle was gorgeous, he would show Clary pictures when she got curious about how she looked. She was a brunette, dark brown, almost black hair almost down to the middle of her back. Her figure was perfect, thin but built enough to show that she trains a lot. Her skin was flawless, _she_ was flawless and Rory envied her completely.

"Will there be a day where you don't think Izzy is prettier than you?"

"No."

"Izzy is good-looking, pretty. But you're beautiful."

Clary was taken aback. Sure, she and Jace were close but he had never called her…'beautiful' before. It was a word she rarely ever heard from anyone but her mother and Luke. Surely Jace was just trying to make her feel better about her, right? He couldn't possibly think that.

"Funny, pretty boy." Clary rolled her eyes playfully as she scooted down, tilting her head to comfortably let it rest against his abdomen. "Simon still thinks I'm crazy, when I talk about you. He always asks so there's not any way I can't just…say you're not real."

"Maybe you are crazy, maybe I'm not real." Clary rolled her eyes once more at that, though unable to contain her grin. She lifted a hand, lightly smacking at his side.

"You're so funny. I'd love to test and see if my mom can see you." Clary thought aloud in wonder, absentmindedly picking at the hem of Jace's white t-shirt. "Maybe…"

"She's a Shadowhunter, Clary. Of course she would. It's not like that just goes away. She can still see Downworlders, she can still see through the glamour." Jace explained carefully, knowing the fact that he didn't want her mother or Luke to see him was a touchy subject for her. "She kept you away from this world for a reason, if she knew I was here, she'd send you to…I don't know, fucking Australia."

The red-head couldn't help but laugh at that, because it was true. If her mother knew about Jace, she would send her as far away from Brooklyn as possible. She had already threatened it before, though that was just to get her to pay more attention in school. "I guess. Hey, can you do something for me?"

"No, because I _never_ do anything for you." Jace fought back a grin as he sat up along with Clary, who scrambled off of the bed to get her sketchpad. "What do you need me to do?"

"I want…to try to draw your runes." She nodded her head towards his arm, heading back over to settle in front of him, cross-legged with her pencil and sketchpad in her lap. "It may not be the best idea but I want to brush up on my…knowledge and learn them. Learn what they mean too."

"Is this just an excuse to see me with my shirt off?"

"Don't flatter yourself, pretty boy."

* * *

Clary found herself that night dazedly tracing the blonde's runes with her fingertip, having gotten tired much earlier than she had thought she would. This was a normal night for her, laying back in bed with Jace in the middle of the night while her mother slept. "Isn't Alec gonna kill you for coming home late?"

"Maybe. But he'd kill me much more maliciously if he knew I was spending my night with you." Jace nudged his shoulder with hers, the arm she was tracing lifting up so his fingers met her own. She blinked in surprise at the gesture, but quickly went along with it.

"I wonder what he thinks you do at night when you're gone." Clary hummed out thoughtfully, allowing the pads of her fingers to brush over his own. "Do they even know?"

"Isabelle may have an idea, Hodge definitely knows but Alec probably thinks I'm out partying with vampires, hunting with werewolves or something like that. He just thinks I'm being a troublemaker." Clary laughed at that, knowing that was beyond what Jace actually was.

"Such a badass troublemaker, staying with a mundane Shadowhunter while her mother can't know."

"Hey, it sounds pretty badass to me."

"Maybe a little." Clary admitted as she thought back on the situation, nodding in agreement. It was true. It seemed like the typical teenage romance type of thing, hiding their relationship from her mom and Luke so they won't get freaked out. It was typical, aside from the Shadowhunter part…_and_ the romance part.

"Will I ever get to see the Institute?" Clary blurted out, that being one thing on her mind a lot recently. She lifted her head as Jace's fingers paused against her own, seeing the thoughtful look on his face.

"Maybe one day. It would be a good idea for everyone to actually _know_ about you first though, huh? After that, maybe. Hodge may not like it thought." Jace muttered the last part as an afterthought.

"I'm still trying to understand if he's strict or not." From what Clary had heard of Hodge, he seemed strict but also fun when he wanted to be. It confused her but it also reminded her a lot of Luke. Luke could be her best friend or her best enemy at the most random times. "Mom has been acting weird lately…do you know why?"

Jace looked down at her in slight confusion, then shook his head 'no'. "I don't see why she would be acting weird. Maybe she's PMSing."

"You know that one day where I said I wanted to know how much you knew about women?"

"Yes?"

"I do _not_ want to know anymore."


End file.
